Health News 02/2017

The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside their headquarters in Basel, January 30, 2014. To match special report USA-FDA/CASES REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo. ZURICH Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Wednesday it remains ...(Feb 1, 2017, Reuters)

Tooth infection leads to 26-year-old California dad's death

A California long-haul trucker died early Monday after a tooth infection spread to his lungs, Fox 40 reported. Vadim Kondratyuk Anatoliyevich, 26, was the father of two small children. He started to complain of a toothache a few weeks ago, before a ...(Feb 1, 2017, Fox News)

Report finds chemicals in one-third of fast food packaging

(CNN) Most of the time, when you order fast food, you know exactly what you're getting: an inexpensive meal that tastes great but is probably loaded with fat, cholesterol and sodium. But it turns out that the packaging your food comes in could also ...(Feb 1, 2017, CNN)

Brain games linked to delayed cognitive decline in elderly

Older people who engage in mentally stimulating activities later in life may have a lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment than their peers who don't challenge their minds, a study suggests. For adults 70 and older without cognitive ...(Feb 1, 2017, Fox News)

Paralyzed patients communicate thoughts via brain-computer interface

LONDON – Scientists have developed a brain-computer interface that reads the brain's blood oxygen levels and enables communication by deciphering the thoughts of patients who are totally paralyzed and unable to talk. In a trial of the system in four ...(Feb 1, 2017, Fox News)

Indiana Looks To Extend Medicaid Experiment Started Under Obamacare

As Congress weighs repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday sought to keep its conservative-style Medicaid expansion under the federal health the health law. Indiana applied to the Trump administration to ...(Feb 1, 2017, NPR)

Tooth infection leads to young father's death

A mother is left with her two children after her husband died after having a tooth infection. (Jan. 31, 2017). Frances Wang, KARE 10:42 AM. EST February 01, 2017. Vadim Kondratyuk was only 26-years-old when a tooth infection led to his death. He leaves ...(Feb 1, 2017, 11alive.com)

'Get off your phone!!' Day care's message to parents goes viral

A day care in Texas has one message to parents picking up their children: Get off your phone. And it's going viral. Juliana Farris Mazurkewicz was picking up her kids at the day care outside Houston on Friday afternoon when she spotted a new sign ...(Feb 1, 2017, Fox News)

Which Genes Make You Taller? A Whole Bunch Of Them, It Turns Out

When scientists first read out the human genome 15 years ago, there were high hopes that we'd soon understand how traits like height are inherited. It hasn't been easy. A huge effort to find height-related genes so far only explains a fraction of this ...(Feb 1, 2017, NPR)

Zika ebbing in Latin America but vigilance needed: WHO

A health worker carries out fumigation as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases at the cemetery of Carabayllo on the outskirts of Lima, Peru February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo. By Stephanie Nebehay | ...(Feb 1, 2017, Reuters)

Leaders for the health insurance industry, state insurance commissioners and brokers warned Wednesday that more health plans almost certainly will defect from Affordable Care Act marketplaces unless Congress and the Trump administration provide some ...(Feb 1, 2017, Washington Post)

This State Is the Nation's Happiest, for the 6th Time in Annual Poll

Hawaii once again tops the list of happiest states in the country, according to a new poll. In 2016, residents of the Aloha State scored highest on Gallup-Healthways' annual survey of well-being, with a score of 65.2 out of 100. This marks the sixth ...(Feb 1, 2017, Live Science)

Health chair: Congress may have to aid insurers during ObamaCare transition

A top Republican lawmaker indicated Wednesday that Congress might have to provide financial assistance to insurance companies to keep the individual market from collapsing during the transition away from ObamaCare. Sen. Lamar Alexander · Lamar ...(Feb 1, 2017, The Hill)

These States Are the Happiest and Healthiest

Your answer to that question is a key predictor of your health and livelihood, according to a new report from Gallup and Healthways that ranks states by well-being. "People who go to the dentist are generally better at evaluating their lives and in ...(Feb 1, 2017, TIME)

MIT built a wearable app to detect emotion in conversation

How a person tells a story could be interpreted in a multitude of ways — telling your friend about your awesome new car can come across as excitement or a brag, depending on the listener. To help detect the sentiment behind speech, a team at the ...(Feb 1, 2017, The Verge)

'Very bad' flu season looms in Kansas City area if cases continue to soar

The flu season hitting the Kansas City area right now is on pace to be “very bad,” according to health officials tracking the spread of the disease over the past two weeks. Kansas and Missouri are among at least 10 states reporting widespread flu ...(Feb 1, 2017, Kansas City Star)

My Family History for Heart Disease

Growing up in a family of eight kids in a poor neighborhood in Dallas, I remember the aroma of a bubbling pot of beans wafting from every house. Budgets were tight, so the beans, rice and tortillas were mainstays in the neighborhood diet. I yearned for ...(Feb 1, 2017, Huffington Post)

AMA Says Trump Immigration Policy Could Affect U.S. Health System

One of every four physicians practicing in the United States is an international medical graduate, according to the American Medical Association. iStockphoto. The American Medical Association waded into the immigration debate Wednesday with a letter to ...(Feb 2, 2017, U.S. News & World Report)

Donald Trump's Longtime Doctor Says President Takes Hair-Growth Drug

Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, President Trump's longtime physician, outside of his office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in December 2015. Credit Joe Marino/New York Daily News, via Getty Images. WASHINGTON — President Trump takes medication for ...(Feb 2, 2017, New York Times)

Flu activity continues to increase in Clark County

LAS VEGAS - – The Southern Nevada Health District continues to report increased flu activity in Clark County. Since October, there have been a total of 238 confirmed influenza cases with one reported death in an adult over the age of 65; at the same ...(Feb 2, 2017, KCSG)

EEG cap allows completely paralysed patients to communicate

A model wearing the team's cap. Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering. Non-invasive caps look like the newest tool that could allow completely paralysed people to communicate with the outside world. An international team of researchers led by Niels ...(Feb 2, 2017, CNET)

Study suggests air pollution increases risk for Alzheimer's disease

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution may cause more than just lung disease: New research suggests that if tiny particles in the air from power plants and cars are inhaled, they might also invade the brain, increasing the risk for ...(Feb 2, 2017, UPI.com)

My Turn: Abortions will always be available, but will they be safe?

An abortion rights supporter holds up a sign at a demonstration in Madison, Wis., on April 20, 1971. AP file. Previous; Next. Previous; Next. By NANCY GREENWOOD For the Monitor. Wednesday, February 01, 2017. Print. I just turned 63, and it appears to ...(Feb 2, 2017, Concord Monitor)

Portugal strengthens bird flu controls after case in wild bird

LISBON Portugal has reinforced veterinary controls in the southern Algarve region after detecting an isolated case of a highly contagious strain of bird flu virus in a gray heron, officials said. The Agriculture Ministry's Veterinary and Food General ...(Feb 2, 2017, Reuters)

Pornhub wants to be your one-stop shop for sex ed

Adult website Pornhub launched an online education center Wednesday to offer advice on fulfilling a healthy sex and love life, along with a side of NSFW bedroom advice. Pornhub announced their "Pornhub Sexual Wellness Center" on Wednesday and said ...(Feb 2, 2017, USA TODAY)

Brain scans let 'locked-in' als patients communicate

High Field Open MRI of Rockford is conveniently located in A Perryville Place, provides state of the art, high quality diagnostic imaging in a comfortable environment.More >>. HealthMore>> · Brain scans let 'locked-in' als patients communicate · Brain ...(Feb 2, 2017, WREX-TV)

Trump's vaccine views are at odds with those of most Americans, study says

The criticism of vaccines voiced by President Trump and some other public figures is at odds with the attitudes of most Americans, who overwhelmingly support requiring public school children to be vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella, according to ...(Feb 2, 2017, Washington Post)

President Trump's nominee to be the nation's top health official introduced legislation last May that benefited a health company he had recently invested in. The $15,000 purchase of shares in McKesson is but the latest financial action raising ...(Feb 2, 2017, USA TODAY)

Family finds rattlesnake in toilet, then 23 more underneath their house

Last Updated Feb 2, 2017 4:52 PM EST. For the past 20 years, Nathan Hawkins has been working with snakes in the small Texas town of Buffalo Gap. So when Hawkins, the owner of Big Country Snake Removal, received a frantic call from a family in Abilene, ...(Feb 2, 2017, CBS News)

Trump is taking hair loss drug, doctor says

(CNN) President Trump is taking a prostate drug often prescribed for hair loss, his physician Dr. Harold N. Bornstein told the New York Times in an interview published Wednesday. He also made a point of stating that the President has all of his hair ...(Feb 2, 2017, CNN)

The Purpose of Sleep? To Forget, Scientists Say

A PET scan of a brain during normal sleep. Two scientists say sleep may help the brain prune back unneeded synapses. Credit Hank Morgan/Science Source. Over the years, scientists have come up with a lot of ideas about why we sleep. Some have argued ...(Feb 2, 2017, New York Times)

Not Getting Enough Sleep? Camping In February Might Help

It's tempting to keep the computer running late and promise yourself an extra 30 minutes of bed rest in the morning. It's tempting to do it again the next night, too. But sleep inevitably loses out to getting up early for school or work. There's a ...(Feb 2, 2017, NPR)

Millions of Americans will spend Super Bowl Sunday with friends and family, making it the second highest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving. Most people think a big flat-screen television is the key ingredient for a great ...(Feb 2, 2017, Grand Island Independent)

Hundreds of doctors and nurses urge the Cleveland Clinic to stand up to Trump

Hundreds of medical professionals are calling on the prominent Cleveland Clinic hospital system to cut its perceived ties to President Trump in light of a contentious executive order that has temporarily banned people from seven Muslim-majority ...(Feb 2, 2017, Washington Post)

THURSDAY, Feb. 2, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Women whose breasts are predominantly made up of more dense, glandular tissue face higher odds for breast cancer, a new study finds. The researchers added that, based on their study of 200,000 women, ...(Feb 2, 2017, U.S. News & World Report)

Russian Kremlin critic hospitalised on life support

Moscow (AFP) - A Russian opposition politician and well-known Kremlin critic was in intensive care Thursday following organ failure in a sudden illness, two years after suffering a suspected poisoning, supporters said. Vladimir Kara-Murza was on a ...(Feb 2, 2017, Yahoo News)

Sleeping Shrinks the Brain … and That's a Good Thing

Ah, to sleep, perchance … to shrink your neural connections? That's the conclusion of new research that examined subtle changes in the brain during sleep. The researchers found that sleep provides a time when the brain's synapses — the connections ...(Feb 2, 2017, Live Science)

More toddlers suffer eye burns from laundry packets, study says

From 2012 to 2015, the number of chemical burns to the eye linked to laundry detergent packets rose more than 30 times among young children, a new study says. More than 1,200 3- and 4-year-olds received such burns in that time period, according to the ...(Feb 2, 2017, kfor.com)

New Arkansas Law Lets Men Block Wives' Abortions

WASHINGTON― A new law in Arkansas bans most second trimester abortions and allows a woman's husband to sue the doctor for civil damages or “injunctive relief,” which would block the woman from having the procedure. The “Unborn Child Protection ...(Feb 2, 2017, Huffington Post)

Politics|The GOP Campaign to Repeal Obamacare Hits a Wall

Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Senate health committee, talking with witnesses before a hearing to consider changes to the Affordable Care Act in Washington on Wednesday. Credit T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York ...(Feb 2, 2017, New York Times)

Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals were less likely to die when their doctors were educated outside the U.S., according to a study by researchers at Harvard University. The study, published in the journal BMJ, examined more than 1.2 million hospital ...(Feb 3, 2017, Wall Street Journal)

Why some people become enraged by sounds such as eating or breathing has been explained by brain scan studies. The condition, misophonia, is far more than simply disliking noises such as nails being scraped down a blackboard. "I feel there's a threat ...(Feb 3, 2017, BBC News)

Trump travel ban leaves Iranian baby's heart surgery in limbo

(CNN) An Iranian infant with a heart defect is entangled in President Trump's immigration ban -- and her extended family in Oregon is on an urgent mission to get her to the US for critical surgery. Fatemeh's parents were scheduled to meet with doctors ...(Feb 3, 2017, CNN)

AspenNightCamp Going camping in the wilderness is beneficial for sleep cycles, which affect our memory and learning, research shows. Here, a tent is seen at night in Aspen, Colorado, Aug. 17, 2011. Photo: Zach Dischner/Wikimedia Commons. All of us ...(Feb 3, 2017, International Business Times)

Subway's best menu picks, by a nutritionist

This story is part of a series on finding the healthiest menu options at some of the most popular fast food restaurant chains. (CNN) So what's so special about Subway, you might ask? After all, a sandwich is a sandwich -- right? Well, yes and no. Yes ...(Feb 3, 2017, CNN)

7 Proposed Anti-Abortion Laws That Are Just As Terrifying As Arkansas' Act 45

Last Thursday, Arkansas' governor signed a law that could allow fathers or even parents to "veto" women's abortions by threatening to sue abortion providers. And Arkansas isn't the only state to pass abortion laws, or attempt to pass laws, similar to ...(Feb 3, 2017, Bustle)

A Texas boy found a rattlesnake in a toilet. Then a snake catcher found 23 more.

Jason McFadden was at work one morning in late January when he got a text message from his wife, Cassie. “What the crap do I do?” it read. That text was followed by a picture — of a rattlesnake inside a toilet at their Texas home. Life is full of new ...(Feb 3, 2017, Washington Post)